Take one “born-again comedian,” (Chris Smith), a handful of talented actors, writers and friends, then add a video recorder, and you have Dorm Life, an exciting online mockumentary that follows 10 lovable (or not–so-lovable) characters as they navigate the residential halls of “5-South” dorm hall.

Co-creator, Brian Singleton (Marshall Adams), says he and his friends had a vision. “Most [college shows and movies] are stereotypically told from a fraternity Greek system. We wanted to tell the story of the dorms, which has just as much adventure and romance and drama and discoveries as the Greek system. [Living in dorms] is something that’s been touched on a lot less.”

 

Written and performed by current and former UCLA students, Dorm Life aims to add comedy to nerve-wracking issues every college student must face. Jim Brandon (Gopher) says, “A lot of kids feel this inherent pressure coming into college and this is a big, life changing moment. You have all these pressures to choose a major, think about a career, relationships and all these pressures raise the stakes big time. Taking a comedic approach to that is more fun to watch.”

And with Dorm Life’s standard five minute shorts, checking out an episode or two is the perfect way to spend a few minutes on your laptop while waiting for class to begin. The seven creators of the series performed in the same comedy group at UCLA. Singleton says, “We love doing this. We came up with the idea and the production company [Attention Span Media] gave us full creative control of the project.”

The colorful site also features links to a Facebook group and fan page. All of Dorm Life’s characters have MySpace and Facebook profiles. Chris Smith (Mike Sanders) says they want to give viewers a sense of ownership over the series.


Using their creative input to ditch stereotypes, the show isn’t all about the Greeks; however, the addictive show gives Greeks a positive, accurate representation. Brandon reveals, “We wanted to portray the sorority lifestyle. I think it’s unfair when a lot of college comedies make them rich, stupid girls. We didn’t want to portray fraternities like the dumb, jock fraternity guy.”

Dorm Life residents still remain an eclectic group of roomies. There’s Marshall, a controlling, uptight R.A. (played by Singleton). The contrasts between Singleton and Marshall are so vast, the former UCLA R.A of three years says he gets to do things he wouldn’t daydream of while playing Marshall. “I hope that I was a very different R.A. than I am as Marshall! I was a chill R.A. I can comfortably say I would not get along with Marshall at all.”

Other Dorm Life standouts includes: Mike - a down to earth current rival of Marshall’s (played by Smith), Gopher and Shane - shameless party boys (played by Brandon and Jack De Sena), Steph - Rachel Ray on Red Bull, a bubbly virginal nerd who doesn’t have a clue (played by Jessie Gaskell), Brit and Courtney - cute Valley girls (played by Hannah Pearl Utt and Nora Kirkpatrick), then there’s nerds and weirdos — Josh and Daniel (played by Pancho Morris and Jordan Riggs).


The characters were developed by getting into the zone, literally. Brandon says he wanted to make sure the project was “organic,” so he had the actors live in character in “5-South.” The group used webcams to showcase their improvisation on one-minute bits while in character. Brandon says, “It was really important for everyone to develop their characters using a webcam. There’s an entire page up on the site. Those are some of my favorite things to watch.”

The characters are polished, the shots are similar to NBC’s The Office and the result leaves one with a feeling of voyeurism and participation. From inception to late night script writing sessions to months of editing, the execution is strong.

So what’s in store for the rest of season 1? Brandon says, “Young, horny students away from home the first time, living with co-eds on the same floor. That’s a huge part of everyone’s dorm life experience.”

Brandon says viewers won’t be disappointed. “People should tune in, first of all, because I think our show is genuinely very funny. And secondly, I think we succeeded in addressing a lot of issues most college students should be able to relate to. I’ve had a lot of people who said, ‘that totally happened to me, I had that exact experience.’ That’s very rewarding to have a viewer know we wrote it for them.”

By Joy Alicia